Presented without graphics. I have been watching BJ’s Restaurants for several months to see if the stock would fall from its Icarus like heights. The short story is that during that time it has yet to come back to a level that seem more “attractive” to my somewhat trained investment eye. For my first post of 2012, I present to you my top 12 reasons why you would be better served to buy one of the menu items before buying the stock.

Oh, what’s that? 28% of 2010 EBIT (earnings before interest & tax) came from just the 3rd quarter of the North America segment? And that number decreased 67% in the 4th quarter? GM Europe is hemorraging money, too? And those are the red flags I found just on the FIRST PAGE of their 8-page earnings release?!?!?!?

DON’T.TRADE.THE.HEADLINE.NUMBER.

Dig deeper. The truth is seldom as rosy as the headlines would have you believe.

John Paulson, of the eponymous uber-hedge fund did an hour-long interview with the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. I listened to it (thanks to NYT Dealbook, although not sure where they got it from), and really, I got a kick out of it even though I think my carpal-tunnel is really flaring up now. Anyway, without further ado, here’s what the man behind the Greatest Trade Ever has to say about the Financial Crisis…